Authentic Hungarian Goulash

  4.1 – 46 reviews  • Goulash Recipes

My sister sent me this recipe, which she had acquired from a visitor from Hungary in 1961.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
Total Time: 3 hrs 50 mins
Servings: 6
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  1. 2 tablespoons butter
  2. 2 large onions, diced
  3. 2 pounds flank steak
  4. ⅛ teaspoon caraway seed
  5. ¼ teaspoon dried marjoram
  6. 1 clove garlic, minced
  7. 5 tablespoons paprika
  8. 2 cups water
  9. 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
  10. salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Saute onions until soft, then add beef and brown. Stir in caraway seed, marjoram, garlic and paprika. Pour water over all, lower heat to low and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
  2. Add potatoes and cook until tender, another 45 minutes to 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 339 kcal
Carbohydrate 29 g
Cholesterol 58 mg
Dietary Fiber 6 g
Protein 22 g
Saturated Fat 7 g
Sodium 85 mg
Sugars 5 g
Fat 16 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Juan Miller
Your recipes are all great, but unfortunately, there are some complainers, but think they know it all!!! I love this recipe and all of yours.
Jason Anderson
I’m not sure there is a definitive Goulash. My Hungarian born and bred father in law calls this the real deal. There are any number of variations but this has been called authentic by many Hungarians I know. We cook it on the ‘bogratch’ (phonetic spelling) which is an iron kettle suspended over an open fire. I really believe that there are many legitimate regional variations across Hungary not based on the Hungarians I know, this is the real deal. Remember that this was always an opportunistic dish—whatever you had on hand worked as an ingredient. Give this a try. Super simple and delicious.
Christina Smith
Wanted to try something new so I chose this recipe. Followed the recipe & it was pretty good. Kind of bland though.
Nancy Weaver
I moved recently, and lost my cookbooks. I’ve been making something very similar to this, for years. Can’t remember the name on the cookbook. Anyway, the caraway seed is the key to this, along with the paprika. Take your time, and let it simmer and you’ll be rewarded. I use stew beef cut in bite size pieces and serve over noodles, although I believe it is suppose to be a soup, with potatoes. Delicious, and all the friends my kids bring home with them love it.
Glenda Hernandez
While making this dish I didn’t think it would turn out to be anything eatable. But surprise, surprise! Everyone raved about it and wanted seconds. No leftovers for me. I’ll for sure be making this again
Molly Miller
Substituted beef broth for water and condensed the cook times to 2.5 hours total. Family loves it. Goulash has become a wintertime staple along with other hearty soups and stews.
Christine Welch
This is more like the goulash that I had when I visited Hungary – lots of sweet paprika, potatoes, and no tomato. For those folks saying that it was too much paprika, DON’T use the stuff you buy in the spice jars in your grocery store here; use Hungarian paprika (buy it online, if you can’t find it in an ethnic foods store). The stuff from the grocery store is bitter and nothing like the sweet, flavorful Hungarian paprika that comes in a can.
Tanner Hampton
Expensive flank steak with no taste!
Stephen Wilson
I made a chuck roast the night before, and used the beef broth instead of water. I also added 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar to give it a bit of a tang. Delicious served over egg noodles, rice, or with dumplings.
Tom Bennett
The 5 T of paprika worked great to make the sauce thicken nicely. I did however add a 6 oz. can of tomato paste from another recipe. I used 5 cloves of garlic and could have used more. The other spices should of been increased as well. So I really didn’t follow the recipe. Thus the 4 star rating.
Jane Martin
Followed the recipe and everyone at the table raved. Thank you for sharing
Alexandra Christensen
Loved this recipe. Easy and wonderful flavor.
Heather Olsen
Its Ok but not to my taste.
Robert Ibarra
I made this over the weekend. I used sirloin tip, and didn’t have any marjoram though. It was still delicious and is now a new family favorite!
David George
Good recipe. I like the caraway seeds and not tomato products. All the red is paprika.
Alexis Montgomery
I find it needs some lifting so I used a 1/4 tsp of chillie powder and it made the world of a diference. Brian
Todd Webster
well, it isn’t goulash, closer to paprikash,leaving the potatoes out, add green and red peppers,stewed tomatoes instead of water, 2 bay leaves while simmering, serve over poppyseed noodles(homemade)with lots of sour cream added right before you pour over noodles. you can use any meat, including venison. use a real hungarian paprika liberally.
Margaret Webb
This was pretty darn good. I normally don’t add potatoes.. but it was good with them. However, I did make some buttered noodles to soak up the delicious sauce.. This is close to the recipe given to me years ago. I also swapped the Hot hungarian paprika for half of the regular. Gave it a nice kick to it.
Brent Simmons
I suppose this is an aquired taste. I like most any food but did not care for this. It reminded me of Texas chili without the kick of chili powder.
Danielle Frey
As good or better then any I ever ate in Germany. Better then that made using Knor Goulash Mix, which is quit good. Did thiken a bit with soy flour and Wonder flour.
Jeffrey Hawkins
Tried it and it is tasty.

 

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